New Year, Big Losses

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*As 2009 drew to a (merciful) close across
the broadcast landscape, the obituary pages were full of notable
broadcast names, seemingly nowhere more so than in NEW YORK,
where the days around Christmas brought one piece of sad news
after another.

Christmas
Eve brought word of the death of a legendary top-40 voice, George
Michael, who went on to a second incredibly successful career
as a TV sportscaster. After an early stint as a music promoter
followed by DJ jobs at stations in Wisconsin, Missouri and Colorado,
Michael shot to fame as one of the original "boss jocks"
on Philadelphia's WFIL (560) back in 1966, and he was the second
big WFIL personality we lost in 2009, two months after the death
of his colleague Jim Nettleton in October. As WFIL's night jock,
"King George Michael" quickly became a legendary figure,
winning numerous awards and dominating the ratings.

Michael moved north to New York's WABC in 1974, replacing
Bruce Morrow on the night shift at "Musicradio 77"
and becoming one of the dominant voices of the station's last
decade as a top-40 giant.

The next phase of Michael's career began in New York, where
he worked as a weekend sports anchor on WABC-TV, a gig that led
him to fulltime TV work beginning in 1980 as sports director
at Washington's WRC-TV, a job he held for more than a quarter
of a century. Along the way, a local sports highlight show evolved
into the syndicated "George Michael's Sports Machine,"
one of the most successful syndicated shows in the history of
local TV.

Michael had been fighting cancer since 2007, though he was
well enough to travel to Philadelphia in 2008 to be inducted
into the Broadcast Pioneers Hall of Fame. He was just 70 when
he died December 24.

Christmas
Day brought another obituary, as the New York radio community
lost its good friend Henry Lewis, a staple of the city's radio
dial for more than 60 years. Born Henry Lewis Lilienthal, Lewis'
broadcast career began back in 1945, when he was a teen announcer
on WNYC's Police Athletic League broadcasts, and it was with
that station that he was most closely associated, working there
as a staff announcer in the fifties, again in the sixties, and
once again from 1987 until he was hospitalized in November. In
addition to his WNYC work (most recently as a Saturday-night
music host on WNYC AM 820), Lewis had worked at numerous other
New York stations, including WINS, WNEW, WQXR, WNCN and WRFM.
Lewis was 77.

And on the day after Christmas, New York lost one of its most
notable broadcast owners - though station ownership was just
one small part of the legacy of Percy Sutton, who was born the
son of an ex-slave and rose to become one of the city's most
powerful political figures.

The Texas native first came to prominence as a civil rights
lawyer in the fifties and early sixties, counting Malcolm X among
his clients. He was elected to the state Senate in 1964 after
numerous failed attempts, and two years later became Manhattan
borough president, holding that post for more than a decade before
making an unsuccessful run for mayor of New York.

By then, Sutton was also a radio station owner. In 1971, he
bought the Amsterdam News, the city's most prominent black
newspaper, and followed that up later in the year by buying WLIB
(1190), making it the city's first black-owned radio station.
Three years later, Sutton's Inner City Broadcasting (whose partners
included eventual New York mayor David Dinkins) added WLIB's
sister station, WBLS (107.5), to the group, which would eventually
expand to 18 stations as far afield as San Francisco and Texas,
with additional business interests that included cable systems
and the famed Apollo Theater in Harlem.

Sutton was 89 and suffering from dementia when he died in
a New York nursing home on December 26.

On December 27, the New York radio scene lost Damon "Dave"
Mock, a reporter and producer at CBS Radio News who was just
41. Mock came to CBS in 1997 after starting his career at Hofstra
University's WRHU (88.7 Hempstead) and working at a community
newspaper; he had suffered a stroke in September and reportedly
suffered a heart attack after Christmas dinner. A memorial service
for Mock will be held next Saturday at the Westbury Community
Church.

And later in the week, we learned of the death of Jim "Jimbo"
Genovese, who started his career 40 years ago at WBRL up in Berlin,
N.H. and went on to work all over the Long Island radio dial
(WLIX, WLNG, WBAB, WSUF, WRCN/WHRF) as well as at Trenton's WBUD
before relocating to Florida for several decades. Genovese was
back on Long Island and working as a party DJ when he died Dec.
16 at age 61.

The Binghamton market's
newest FM station has had a hard time reaching listeners in much
of the area, but that's about to change. Since its debut in 2006,
Equinox Broadcasting's WRRQ (106.7 Windsor) has been hampered
by a tower site far to the east of Binghamton, forcing "Q107"
to use several translators in an attempt to fully cover the market.
Now WRRQ is applying to change its city of license to Port Dickinson,
and to relocate its transmitter to the WICZ-TV tower on Ingraham
Hill, right in the middle of the market's main TV/FM antenna
farm. From there, WRRQ would run 1.2 kW/725', with a solid signal
over the core of the market. (And to retain "first local
service" to Windsor, CSN's satellite-fed religious signal,
WIFF 90.1 Binghamton, is applying to change its city of license
to Windsor, with no change in its technical facilities. In exchange
for the "move," CSN will get a year of discounted rent
on the tower it shares with the current WRRQ and Equinox sister
station WCDW 100.5.)

Tyburn Academy's new WTMI (88.7 Fleming) is asking the FCC
for more power. The station's construction permit calls for 100
watts/608' DA from a site southeast of Auburn - but now WTMI
is requesting a power increase to 1300 watts, still directional,
from that same site. If granted, the new WTMI signal will cover
much of the eastern Finger Lakes region, and it will put at least
a fringe signal over most of Syracuse to the east.

And here's an exciting event: with 2010 marking the 75th anniversary
of Major Edwin Howard Armstrong's first demonstrations of FM
radio, our friends at the Audio Engineering Society (AES) are
gearing up for a year of celebrations, beginning with a panel
discussion about Armstrong's life and legacy next Tuesday, January
12.

The event will run from 6:30-9:30 PM at the Hearst Corporation's
Joseph Urban Theater, on Eighth Avenue between 56th and 57th
Streets, and will include presentations from veteran New York
engineer Herb Squire of DSI, Steve Hemphill of Solid Electronics
Labs, and your editor as well. AES' David Bialik is moderating
the event, which is free and open to the public. There's more
information at the AES
NY Section website - and we hope to see you there!

Click on the banner above
to visit's NERW's 15th annual Year in Review, brought to you
this year by these nice folks:

*It was a quiet couple of holiday
weeks in MASSACHUSETTS, with just one minor station sale
to report: Horizon Christian Fellowship is acquiring two religious
signals from Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa. Horizon already owns
WRYP (90.1 Wellfleet) on Cape Cod, and it's paying $200,000 to
Calvary for WFGL (960 Fitchburg) and WJWT (91.7 Gardner).

The "CBS Evening News" simulcast that came to Boston's
WBZ (1030) for Katie Couric's first week on the air back in 2007
is returning to the station this evening, this time as a permanent
feature. WBZ will carry the first ten minutes of the Couric broadcast,
from 6:30-6:40 PM each weeknight, and Couric will appear each
Wednesday with "WBZ Afternoon News" co-anchor Diane
Stern for a Q&A about the day's big stories.

(We're also hearing that Lowell's WCAP 980 will soon be carrying
a simulcast of ABC's World News with Diane Sawyer, following
its existing simulcast of WCVB's 6 PM news.)

With
continued unrest among classical listeners over the WGBH/WCRB
transition last month, there's a panel discussion taking place
tomorrow night (Tuesday, January 5) at Boston's Old South Church
to discuss the changes. It's being presented by the Boston
Musical Intelligencer website, and panelists will include
WGBH general manager John Voci, talk host Chris Lydon, former
Globe critic Richard Dyer and former WCRB general manager
Dave MacNeill. Former state senate president William Bulger is
moderating the discussion, which is sure to include some questions
about the two largest issues of contention: the loss of classical
service to listeners south of Boston unable to receive the WCRB
(99.5) signal and the end of WGBH's Friday afternoon Boston Symphony
Orchestra broadcasts.

And while family issues will keep us from attending, we'd
sure love to be able to make it to Worcester on Saturday, January
16, when WTAG (580) chief engineer Dan Kelleher will be holding
an open house at the station's 1936-vintage transmitter site
in Holden. Kelleher has restored the site and built a small museum
of vintage equipment and documents, and he'll be there (along
with former WTAG CE John Andrews) from 10 AM until 4 PM to show
it off. There will even be sandwiches and drinks - and Dan asks
for RSVPs at dankelleher at clearchannel dot com to make sure
he has enough food for everyone!

*MAINE's own Stephen King is taking
a chance on progressive talk at one of his Bangor-market FM stations.
WZON-FM (103.1 Dover-Foxcroft) moved to a new tower site with
improved reach into Bangor not long ago, and it's dropping its
relatively short-lived simulcast with sports WZON (620 Bangor)
effective today to become "The Pulse."

The new station's lineup includes syndicated liberal talkers
Bill Press (6-9 AM), Montel Williams (9-noon), Ed Schultz (noon-3
PM), Randi Rhodes (3-6 PM), Ron Reagan Jr. (6-9 PM), Stephanie
Miller (9 PM-1 AM), Joey Reynolds overnight and a 5 AM replay
of Rachel Maddow's MSNBC show, as well as local news and CNN
Radio national news. The station may add a local talk show in
the future as well.

*The new year brings some changes to the
talk lineup in CONNECTICUT: at WATR (1320 Waterbury),
Ed Flynn is retiring after 18 years as a talk host, handing over
his 10 AM-1 PM slot to former CPTV executive and longtime Connecticut
broadcaster Larry Rifkin. Flynn will still be on the air at WATR
on at least an occasional basis. Meanwhile at Hartford's WDRC
(1360) and its network of talk stations, the schedule shifts
a bit on weekdays as Brad Davis ends his morning show at 9 AM
instead of 10 to make room for an extra hour of Glenn Beck. At
2 PM, George Mikan's talk show is gone, replaced by an extra
hour of Dr. Joy Browne, and there's now two hours of "best
of" Dr. Joy shows at 11 PM, replacing the Radio Mystery
Theatre.

And the old year ended with one more obituary: Michael Mancini,
who did sales for several stations, most recently Cox Radio's
WPLR, died Christmas Day at age 44.

IT'S 2010
- DO YOU HAVE YOUR NEW CALENDAR YET?

The brand-new Tower Site Calendar 2010 is
now shipping, complete with more than a dozen full-color images
of sites from Deer Point in Boise to KYPA in Los Angeles to Mount
Mansfield in Vermont.

We're selling them at a pretty good pace
this year, which means a sellout is likely.

(We've got special discounts for bulk orders,
too - they make great gifts for your business colleagues or friends...)

*A few format changes kick off our first PENNSYLVANIA
update of 2010, and both involve Clear Channel AM signals
in the central part of the Keystone State. WLAN (1390 Lancaster)
was running Citadel's soon-to-be-defunct "Timeless"
standards format, while WRAW (1340 Reading) was carrying Citadel's
"True Oldies Channel." Both have moved to one of Clear
Channel's in-house formats, classic hits/oldies "The Hits
of the 60s and 70s."

South of Pittsburgh, Bob Stevens' Broadcast Communications
made the frequency switch Dec. 26 at WANB in Waynesburg, shifting
the station from its longtime home on 1580 to a new spot at 1210
on the dial. WANB was a 720-watt daytimer on 1580, but it jumps
to 5000 watts, still non-directional, at 1210. (During "critical
hours," the first two hours after sunrise and the last two
hours before sunset, WANB drops to 710 watts.)

For now, WANB's "Cool Country" format is being heard
on sister station WKVE (103.1 Waynesburg), the former WANB-FM,
but the FM station will soon move to Mount Pleasant, near Uniontown.
There's also an FM simulcast via translator, on W286AL (105.1
Waynesburg).

Radio People on the Move: Joe McCollum is now director of
promotions for all six Clear Channel stations in Philadelphia,
where he'd held that role for WIOQ (102.1). Meanwhile at WHYY
(90.9 Philadelphia), Dave Davies is rejoining the full-time staff
next week as senior reporter and interim news director. Davies
worked at WHYY as a news reporter from 1982-1986 before moving
to KYW (1060) as a city hall reporter; in 1990, he moved to the
Philadelphia Daily News, where he's worked ever since,
though he's remained a presence on WHYY as the fill-in host for
Terry Gross on "Fresh Air."

In the Lehigh Valley, Brian "Big Mack" McKay is
out of a job at Citadel's WLEV (100.7 Allentown), where he'd
been doing afternoons for nearly five years. McKay is focusing
on his production business, Big
Mack's Production Tracks, while he looks for a new gig.

The end of 2009 brought a slew of new call letters for new
stations: mark down WMMH (91.9 Houtzdale) for Counselors for
Life's new Clearfield-area station, WLPP (91.5 Palmyra Township)
for Four Rivers Community Broadcasting's new signal east of Scranton,
WZXB (90.5 Bechtelsville) for Four Rivers' new Reading-area signal
and WVBM (90.5 Morgantown) for another new Four Rivers signal
south of Reading. The end of the year also brought a return to
the air for long-silent WVZN (1580 Columbia), which is reportedly
back on with Spanish-language religion.

*There's a new simulcast in central NEW
JERSEY: WHWH (1350 Princeton) has flipped from the "Radio
Ted" variety format it's been running on and off for several
years, and it's now simulcasting WBCB (1490 Levittown/Fairless
Hills PA), giving that community station a considerable signal
expansion from its home base across the Delaware River in Bucks
County.

On the shore, the
year ended with two new formats: as expected, Greater Media's
WJRZ (100.1 Manahawkin) flipped from classic hits to AC "Magic
100.1," simulcasting the morning show from sister station
WMGQ (98.3 New Brunswick) but running separately the rest of
the day.

And down in south Jersey, WEZW (93.1 Wildwood Crest) emerged
from a very long run with Christmas music as "Easy 93.1,"
with a very soft blend of standards and soft AC.

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*The weeks around Christmas and New Year's
are typically very slow ones in CANADA - but this year
brought one big format flip in the nation's largest market. Astral's
CJEZ (97.3 Toronto) emerged from all-Christmas with new calls
and a new format, ditching AC "EZ Rock" for classic
hits with a strong 80s flavo(u)r.

The new format,
called "Boom," is an import from Astral's network of
stations in Quebec, where the music is similar but the announcers
are in French. Toronto's new CHBM (Boom 97.3) has some familiar
English-language voices behind the mike, carrying over morning
hosts Humble Howard and Colleen Rushholme and afternoon jock
Kris "KJ" James and adding former CHUM-FM jock Maie
Pauts for middays.

In a weird coincidence, Toronto was just one of two new "Boom"s
to launch right after Christmas: in the Cleveland market, Elyria-Lorain
Broadcasting blew up its smooth jazz WNWV (107.3 Elyria OH) to
put AAA "Boom 107.3" on the air Dec. 28, a day after
we drove through on the way to Indiana.

In Ottawa, Astral's new "Eve FM" hot AC station
has call letters - CJOT - and a target air date of May 2010,
followed (if all goes according to plan) a month or so later
by blues station CIDG (Dawg FM 101.9).

And all those reports that teen pirate Jayhaed Saade had shut
down his high-profile "Mix 91.9" operation in mid-December
may have been premature: in the days just before Christmas, the
station was once again being heard on the Ottawa airwaves. What
will be the next chapter in this weird story as it enters a new
year?

From
the NERW Archives

(Yup, we've been doing this a long time now, and
so we're digging back into the vaults for a look at what NERW
was covering one, five, ten and - where available - fifteen years
ago this week, or thereabouts. Note that the column appeared
on an erratic schedule in its earliest years as "New England
Radio Watch," and didn't go to a regular weekly schedule
until 1997. Thanks to LARadio.com
for the idea - and thanks to you, our readers, for the support
that's made all these years of NERW possible!)

January 5, 2009 -

Yeah, it looks like 2009 is shaping up to be another one
of those years, at least judging by the last moments of destruction
that 2008 wreaked on an already fragile radio business. The culprit
this time was CBS Radio, both in Hartford, as we'll see in a
moment, and in eastern MASSACHUSETTS, where word began spreading
during the day on New Year's Eve that more big changes were afoot
at the once-mighty WBZ (1030 Boston). While so much of the industry
had gone to syndicated programming outside of the major weekday
drivetime slots, WBZ long prided itself on - and profited handsomely
from - its steadfast determination to remain live and local all
night long, with a stellar lineup of hosts in that slot over
the years that included Dick Summer, Larry Glick, Bob Raleigh
and most recently Steve LeVeille. Well, so much for that tradition.
As of the new year, LeVeille - and his local "Steve LeVeille
Broadcast," weeknights from midnight to 5 AM - is history
at WBZ, as are Saturday night hosts Pat Desmarais and Lovell
Dyett, the latter a 37-year veteran of the station.

Saturday nights are now occupied by the syndicated Kim Komando
computer show - and weeknights on the mighty 50,000 watt voice
of Boston will now come from...St. Louis, where Jon Grayson,
who's been doing talk for a few years at CBS sister station KMOX
(1120), will take his local show semi-national (as "Overnight
America") beginning this week. In addition to WBZ and KMOX,
Grayson's show will also air on WCCO (830 Minneapolis) and KDKA
(1020 Pittsburgh).

Enough loss of local flavor for you? Wait, there's more:
also gone, as part of the cutbacks, was WBZ's already fairly
minimal committment to local news after 8 PM, when its daytime
all-news format gives way to talk.

Over on the TV side of things, WCVB (Channel 5) starts the
new year without a news director: after eight years on that job
at the Hearst-Argyle ABC affiliate, and many years behind the
scenes before that, Colleen Marren departed at the end of December,
apparently after being unable to reach a new contract deal. Neil
Ungerleider, the station's web guru, is handling the ND job on
an interim basis. And down the street at New England Cable News,
Boston TV veteran Tom Ellis is out of a job; his weekend shift
on NECN ended in late December after 16 years at the cable network
and decades in the industry.

And there's a format change to report on Cape Cod: WKPE (103.9
South Yarmouth) came off its all-Christmas format to become "Cape
Country," the first stab at that format on the Cape in a
few years, since WCIB (101.9) made a brief flip to country a
while back, and a pretty far cry from the top-40 format the signal
had been running for just under a year.

The CBS "Happy New Year" cuts weren't limited to
Boston - they hit hard in CONNECTICUT, too, claiming two of the
biggest on-air names from the WTIC (1080 Hartford) roster and
leaving that once-proud station as not only a shell of its former
self, but also as the target of what's proving to be a pretty
noisy public outcry. WTIC's staff cuts, made just as 2008 slumped
to its unlamented end, eliminated the jobs of morning co-host
Diane Smith, who left her TV news career a decade ago to join
Ray Dunaway on "Mornings with Ray and Diane," and Colin
McEnroe, the Hartford Courant columnist who had been WTIC's iconoclastic
afternoon talk host since 1992. Dunaway will go solo, at least
for now, as host of a morning block that will be trimmed back
by an hour, ending at 9 AM to allow Jim Vicevich to start his
talk show an hour earlier. In the afternoons, McEnroe's show
will be replaced by a news block anchored by Bill Pearse and
Aaron Kupec.

Up the Thruway in Amsterdam, Ken Roser is trading talk for
music at WVTL (1570 Amsterdam), where Christmas tunes gave way
to a standards/soft AC format (they're calling it "beautiful
music") similar to his WADR (1480 Remsen)/WUTQ (1550 Utica)
an hour to the west. WVTL's local shows, Bob Cudmore in morning
drive and "Valley Talk with Mike Mancini & Sam Zurlo,"
from 9-10 AM, remain in place on weekdays.

VERMONT rings in the new year with a new rock station. After
spending some time stunting with Christmas music, former country
outlet WLFE (102.3 St. Albans) flipped to active rock as "Rock
102.3, Pure Rock Radio" as soon as the holiday was over.
Mornings on the new signal come straight outta Nebraska, courtesy
of the syndicated "Todd N Tyler Morning Empire" based
at KEZO (92.3 Omaha), giving the show its only non-midwest clearance;
the rest of the day, at least for now, is satellite - and there's
a power increase still in the works; now that WRGR (102.3 Tupper
Lake) over in the Adirondacks has moved to 102.1, WLFE can follow
through with its move to Grand Isle, closer to Burlington, and
power increase to class C3. (WRGR, though it also had a pending
CP to go to C3 on 102.1, tells the FCC that due to financial
constraints, it will remain a class A signal for now.)

So much for oldies - er, classic hits - in Altoona, PENNSYLVANIA:
WALY (103.9 Bellwood) flipped to AC right after Christmas, as
"The New WALY 103.9."

There's a new format to go with new calls in Laporte: the
former WCOZ (103.9) is now WNKZ, and it's migrated from oldies
(simulcasting "Gem FM" WGMF 107.7 Tunkhannock) to hot
AC as "KZ104." The WCOZ calls haven't gone far, though
- WNKZ co-owner Kevin Fitzgerald is also the president of the
nonprofit Telikoja Educational Broadcasting, which now has the
WCOZ calls on its new 90.5 construction permit in Laceyville,
west of Tunkhannock.

January 3, 2005 -

The new year brought a new format to MAINE, where Cumulus
flipped Bangor-market oldies WWMJ (95.7 Ellsworth) to classic
hits just after Christmas. Newspaper ads for "Classic Hits
I-95" had been running for several weeks, so the flip wasn't
much of a surprise for the market.

It was one of the first stations in the region to go all-Christmas,
and now the NEW YORK Capital District's smooth jazz outlet appears
to be the last to stay with the format. WZMR (104.9 Altamont)
said it would go back to its urban AC/smooth jazz "Love
104.9" format when the holiday was over, but as late as
press time Sunday (Jan. 2), it was still in all-Christmas mode.
Hmmm...

Here in Rochester, New Year's Eve brought a big farewell
celebration for WHEC (Channel 10)'s anchor of 29 years, Gabe
Dalmath. His usual newscasts at 5:30 AM and 5-6 PM were filled
with tributes and old clips, and Gabe ended up anchoring at 6
as well in place of his successor, Brian Martin. After Dalmath's
farewell words at the end of the newscast, his co-workers came
on to the set with a cake, and the newscast ended with a well-deserved
round of applause.

In PENNSYLVANIA, Route 81's WCDL (1440 Carbondale) began
testing right around Christmas, and it returns to the air for
real today (Jan. 3) at noon, running a classic country format
from its studios in Carbondale's municipal building.

Over in Williamsport, WLYC (1050) spent a few days stunting
before making a format flip today, dropping Westwood One's standards
format and picking up ESPN sports.

January 7, 2000 -

On we go into 2000, beginning in CONNECTICUT, where the waning
days of 1999 brought one last format change. Under its new Citadel
ownership, WVVE (102.3 Stonington) dumped oldies, spent a few
days running the Citadel format-change "atomic clock"
(last heard at WCLZ in Maine), then went into an active-rock
format as "Rock 102" (no relation to that other "Rock
102," WAQY Springfield, whose fringes overlap the WVVE service
area). It's the first all-out rocker in the New London market
since the days of WXZR on 98.7 a few years back.

On the other side of the Nutmeg State, WKZE (1020 Sharon)
rang in the New Year with an unusual nighttime broadcast. The
2500-watt daytimer (1800 watts during critical hours) pushed
the boundaries of FCC regulation by signing back on at 11 PM
and remaining on until just after 1 AM New Year's Day, with its
usual music format but no commercials. Up here in Rochester,
the frequency was still dominated by KDKA, but the WKZE broadcast
was heard as far away as Albany and Stamford, at least.

So long, "News 4 New England," and welcome back,
"WBZ 4 News," as Boston's number-three newsroom tries
again to recover the momentum that disappeared around the time
(can it be five years ago already?) the NBC peacock yielded to
the CBS eye. Across town, Brian Leary is leaving WCVB (Channel
5) to start his own Web business, adding more uncertainty to
an anchor roster already reeling from news of Chet Curtis and
Natalie Jacobsen's separation. Leary was one of the class acts
in Boston TV; he'll be sorely missed.

Coming soon to an island near you: The folks at WGBH are
almost ready to turn on the first half of their new service to
Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket. WNAN (91.1 Nantucket)
is slated to be on the air before the end of the month, with
WCAI (90.1 Woods Hole) following as soon as some issues surrounding
the Martha's Vineyard transmitter site can be resolved. The stations
are in good hands, with veteran NPR producer (and head honcho
of the very cool "Lost and Found Sound" project) Jay
Allison running the show.

NEW HAMPSHIRE's newest station debuted Monday morning, as
WKXL-FM (102.3 Concord) dropped its simulcast with WKXL (1450)
(and now WRCI 107.7 Hillsboro) to go country as "Outlaw
102." Becky Nichols is holding down morning drive at the
new FM; we assume a call change will follow sooner or later at
both 102.3 and 107.7.

There's something about fires, Niagara Falls, and radio stations,
or so it seems. Just a week after WJJL (1440) lost its Main Street
studio in a fire, crosstown WHLD (1270) lost its Harris SX5 transmitter
to flame. Fortunately, WHLD had a brand-new Harris DX5 waiting
to go on the air at its new transmitter site (diplexed with WNED
970) down in Hamburg; that unit was moved to the old WHLD site
on Grand Island and placed into emergency service.

Across the border in CANADA, a format change marked the New
Year in the Ottawa market. Under new owner Rogers, CFMO (101.1
Smiths Falls) ditched the sleepy soft rock it had been running
in favor of rock as "XFM @ 101," joining with sister
station CHEZ (106.1 Ottawa; classic rock) to form a sort of bookend
around standalone competitor CKQB (106.9 "The Bear").
Rogers pulled the same stunt in Vancouver, flipping CFSR (104.9)
from sleepy AC "Star" to "XFM." (Does this
mean we can go back to Vancouver now?)

New England Radio Watch, January 5, 1995

In Albany, WTRY-FM 98.3 has broken its simulcast with oldies
WTRY 980, and is now satellite-70's "Star 98.3." WTRY
AM and FM are part of an agglomeration of six stations, all with
their ad time sold by Liberty -- WTRY-AM, WGNA-AM (// country
WGNA-FM), WWCP-FM 96.7 (WDRE prog rock), WTRY-FM, WPYX-FM (AOR),
and WGNA-FM (country). That's something like 35% of the market,
but since Liberty doesn't actually own WTRY-FM and WWCP-FM (Jarad
Communications does), it's allegedly kosher.

Also in Albany, Amsterdam's WKOL-FM 97.7, after a brief stint
as Christmas music, is now classical as WBKK. Still finding its
legs apparently, as they were very sloppy about legals (they
did one at :40!) Sounded like it might have been the KDFC DAT
service...definitely NOT live and local. Sister station WCSS
1490 was off air or at least inaudible.

Here in Boston, the switch has happened. WBZ-TV 4 is now
CBS, after 46 years with NBC. WHDH-TV 7 is now NBC after 22 years
with CBS (and 13 more years before that too, from 1948 till 1961,
when ch. 7 went to ABC). Videos available on request.

And despite the promise (threat?) to go religious on 1/1,
WSSH-AM 1510 is still brokered Spanish. The Spanish programmers
had sued WSSH's owners Noble Communications for selling the station
to Communicom just as the brokerage contract was being signed.
Maybe it's held up in court. When and if religion happens
here, requested calls are WNRB.

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